The present invention generally relates to an information processing system that can resume operation even when a failure occurs in a computer storage device.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-122872 discloses that a lidded spare casing, which houses a main hard disk incorporating an OS, disk drive and application software, is provided to a user in advance, and the user replaces the casing of a main hard disk, which has either become unstable or been broken during use, by turning OFF the power and inserting the above-mentioned spare casing into the personal computer main unit. Further, this Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-122872 discloses that the user then sends the either unstable or broken main hard disk back to the manufacturer, and the manufacturer initializes the user-returned main hard disk, reproduces the OS and application software, incorporates a compatible device driver into the user's hardware environment once again, and after completing operational testing, returns the repaired main hard disk to the user, and the user keeps this repaired main hard disk as a spare casing that houses a normal main hard disk.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-122872 is limited in that it is possible to continue to use the computer, but it is not possible to store user data in the main hard disk incorporating the OS, device driver and application software, making it necessary to store user data and configuration information in a different storage medium. Further, there is no disclosure regarding job continuation when the storage medium on which the user data and configuration information is stored fails.